Naeva-To Fight a Monster

Chapter 19

Night had fallen when Radley suddenly jumped out of the river, catching Naeva off-guard. She'd been riding on his back like a weird boat, but it had worked; they were here.

She tumbled off his back as he landed. Finally, I can ask him what the heck is going on... "Radley. From what I've heard, golems are huge, but they're unintelligent and brittle. So how did you, a hydrokinetic with a sledgehammer, and Valerian, a shadow jumper with an unbreakable knife, manage to fail here?"

"It's an adult," Radley said, his eyes darting around cautiously. "Most golems you see are about twice my height, but golems don't grow with time. They're born with a claylike layer over the main body, but that's gone within a month. Until then, they're even bigger. Then they stay the size you've seen for decades.

"After that, they slowly shrink. Not because layers are breaking, but because it's compacting. Hardening. It compresses until it's about two feet tall, by which time it's a material almost as strong as your staff and Radley's knife.

"It can regenerate, too. All you need to do to kill a young golem is crack it well enough. Adults, you have to shatter one until it's less than a pile of pebbles, or it'll pull together and eventually fill the cracks like it was never injured. No one even knows if that's a natural or magical ability, since no one's ever even killed an adult."

"And I'm guessing this town wasn't close enough to the river for you to fight properly?" Naeva guessed.

Nodding, Radley said, "And my phoenix flames only startled it long enough to get the last of the injured out of that collapsing house. Then it was all about surviving long enough to escape." He glanced at her hopefully. "By the way, did you figure out the old man's power?"

Naeva looked down irritably. "No, I haven't. I've tried focusing on his instinct all day, but I just couldn't. Every time I think about Orlando's power, all I can picture is griffin feathers, talons..."

"Yeah, that doesn't make much sense," Radley agreed. Then his eyes widened slightly, excitement evident on his face. "Hey, what if you try using that power while it's forcing you onto the griffin?"

"What do you mean?" Naeva asked.

"Well, he was able to bring out a little bit of a golem, right?" Radley noted. "I'm just curious if the monster you killed was actually a-"

A small mass slammed heavily into his stomach, throwing him to the ground. The thing rolled off of him, standing to reveal itself as a vaguely humanoid jumble of rocks, exactly the height that Radley had described.

While Radley rolled to his feet, coughing, the golem curled up and rolled at Naeva, clearly attempting the same thing it had just done upon its entrance, but she whipped out her staff and slammed the golem to the ground. Naeva's arms tingled from the impact, but a chip of stone had come loose.

Radley swung his hammer while the creature was stunned, but it didn't do anything more than Naeva's attack. The golem shook off the blows and swung at Naeva's leg. While she dodged the creature's arm, Radley hit it again.

"It's not enough!" he called, getting in a second blow while the golem turned.

The four small pebbles they'd broken floated up from the ground before zipping back to the golem. A moment later, it was as good as new.

Crap, Naeva thought, blocking another strike. They wouldn't be able to keep up with this thing. Not with their current power.

But Naeva had more than her own power now, didn't she? If she could just figure out how it worked...

"Radley, keep it occupied for a few minutes!" Naeva called. "I need to try something!"

Without a word, Radley dropped his hammer and pulled several jets of water out of the river. A focused stream knocked another chip loose from the golem. The damage was negligible, but it drew the creature's attention. Naeva stepped away from the river while Radley fought.